2011 Everest Alan

Kathmandu

The Mt. Everest Gallery is a series of pictures I took during my 2002, 2003 and 2008 Everest climbs from the Nepalese side.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. It is the gateway for many Himalaya climbs including Everest. Rich in history, today Kathmandu is a mostly poor city of over 1 million.

See more pictures like this in the Trek to base camp Album.

Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp becomes a city each spring. Almost 2000 people live here for 2 months. There are porters, cook boys, cooks, base camp Managers, Climbers and Sherpas. Also it is estimated that 10,000 trekkers visit BC each season.

Each team has their own camp made up of tents for showering, toliet, dining, cooking, communcation, storage and sleeping. These are all estabished in their own small area on the ever-moving Khumbu Glacier.

It will snow at BC throughout the season but it usually not misses the extremely heavy snowfalls. By the end of May, the glacier has started melting and many tents sit in water or had to be moved.

See more pictures like this in the base camp Album.

Khumbu Icefall

The Khumbu Glacier starts in Western Cwm and creates the Icefal as it drops 2,000'. It can move more than a foot a day creating deep crevases and large house-size ice towers which can fall over at anytime.

It is the primary way to get to the South Col so almost every Everest southside climber makes 4 to 6 roundtrips through the Icefall with Sherpas doubling that. A special team of Sherpas nicknamed Icefall Doctors maintain ladders that aid in climbing through the short spring season.

See more pictures like this in the Khumbu Icefall Album

Lhotse Face

The west face of Lhotse is the primary route to the South Col and on to the Summit of Everest. Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth at 27,940 feet or 8,516 meters

The Face is steep, icy and dangerous. All climbers attached themselves to a fixed rope to prevent sliding down the face to certain death in event of a fall.

Camp 3 is positioned about 2/3rds of the way up the face and serves as the last camp for acclimatizing to the altitude before going for the summit. It is usually at 23,500'.

From C3 climbers cross the Yelow Band and then the Geneva Spur on their way to the South Col.

See more pictures like this in the Lhotse Face Album.

Geneva Spur

The Geneva Spur is a large rock outcroping and is the last clibm before reachng the South Col. I took this picture in 2003 but in 2008 there was no snow at all.

See more pictures like this in the South Col and Above Album.

Everest Summit Night

This is a picture of me (Alan) about to leave for my summit bid in 2002. I am in my full down suit.

See more pictures like this in the South Col and Above Album.

Mt. Everest

Mt. Everest is the highest mountain on Earth at 29,035 feet or 8850 meters.

See more pictures like this in the Best of Everest Album.

Everest at Sunset

Mt. Everest Alpineglow at sunset from Camp 1

You can see more like this in the Best of Everest Album.

Everest South Summit

This is a picutre fo the South Summit of Everest as seen from the South Col at 8,000 meters. The route is on the right side.